Family so touched to get degree

IT should have been a proud day in the life of Marc Scott Guttridge, but instead it was his family who had to collect his degree after the Dobcross man took his own life. As previously reported by the Advertiser, Marc died last October after his cousin and best friend Karl Jason Jones died in a motorcycle accident.

IT should have been a proud day in the life of Marc Scott Guttridge, but instead it was his family who had to collect his degree after the Dobcross man took his own life.

As previously reported by the Advertiser, Marc died last October after his cousin and best friend Karl Jason Jones died in a motorcycle accident.

We told how the pair had grown up together, gone to school together and celebrating birthdays together, only for them to die within weeks of each other and then share their inquests on the same day.

At the time of his death, 32-year-old Marc (below) was working as a healthcare scientist at Pennine Acute Trust while studying for a foundation degree in Healthcare Science at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Marc was close to completing the course when he died, and his proud parents, Hazel and Jimmy, and brother Paul were still able to celebrate his graduation with the rest of his classmates at a ceremony last week.

Hazel told the Advertiser: "It was so out of the blue. We knew he was doing the foundation degree but he’d not quite completed it. We were very moved when we received the letter telling us about the ceremony as it was something we’d not thought about with everything else that had been going on.It was a nice surprise, although obviously tinged with sadness."

Marc’s brother Paul was presented with the degree in a special red leather scroll to rapturous applause from fellow students, tutors and friends and family.

Hazel added: "It was absolutely fantastic. We decided all three of us would go up on stage and we got such wonderful treatment – it was very moving.You could see the strong emotion from the people who knew Marc. People just kept on clapping. We never anticipated something like that and it was lovely he got the recognition.It was a really special evening which reduced me to tears. We all feel very proud and privileged to collect this award for him, but we’re so sad he was not here to collect it himself."